Pectin - 1 package (box usually) or if you get it in bulk, 8 Tablespoons, see the directions below for specifics - (it's a natural product, made from apples and available at grocery stores (season - spring through late summer) and local "big box" stores. It usually goes for about $2.00 to $2.50 per box. You'll get best results with no-sugar needed pectin, whether you choose to add sugar or not!
See here for more information about how to choose the type of pectin to use. 1 and a quarter packets of dry
pectin (1 packet is equal to 3 Tablespoons of pectin) (no-sugar needed pectin works best, yes, even with
sugar)

2 Tablespoons of lemon
juice

Sugar
- About 4.5 cups of dry, granulated (table)
of sugar, honey, or for diabetics,
Stevia or Splenda - although pure Splenda does not yield good results -
2 cups of sugar and 2.5 cups of Splenda works better; For the
no-sugar recipe, click here

Ball jars (Grocery stores, like Publix, Kroger, Safeway carry them, as do some big box stores - about $7 per dozen 8 ounce jars including the lids and rings)

Lids - thin, flat, round metal lids with a gum binder that seals them against the top of the jar. They may only be used once.

Rings - metal bands that secure the lids to the jars. They may be reused many times.

Jar funnel ($2 at Target, other big box stores, and often grocery stores; and available online - see this page) or order it as part of the kit with the jar grabber.

Jar grabber (to pick up the hot jars)- Big box stores and grocery stores sometimes carry them; and it is available online - see this page. It's a tremendously useful to put jars in the canner and take the hot jars out (without scalding yourself!). The kit sold below has everything you need, and at a pretty good price:

Optional stuff:

Foley Food Mill ($25) - not necessary; useful if you want to remove seeds (from
raspberries) or
make applesauce.

Lid lifter (has a magnet to pick the lids out of the boiling water where you sanitize them. ($2 at big box stores or it comes in the kit at left)

Mango-Raspberry Jam-making Directions - Step by Step

This example shows you how to make Raspberry. But you can use this recipe to make any type of
berry jam; where there is a difference, I will point it out! The yield from this recipe is about 8 eight-ounce jars (which is the same as 4 pints).

Step 1 - Pick the berries! (or buy them already picked)

It's fun to go pick your own and you can obviously get better quality ones!

I prefer to grow my own; which is really easy - but that does take some
space, but they are extremely easy to grow.

As mentioned in the Ingredients section; you may use frozen berries (those without syrup or added sugar); which is especially useful if you want to make some jam in December to give away at Christmas!

Above and at left are raspberries that I picked at a pick-your-own farm. If you want to pick your own, here is a list and links to the
pick your own farms.

How many raspberries?

Jam can ONLY be made in rather small batches - about 6 cups at a time - like
the directions on the pectin say, DO NOT increase the recipes or the jam won't
"set" (jell, thicken). (WHY? Alton Brown on the Food Channel says pectin
can overcook easily and lose its thickening properties. It is easier and
faster to get an even heat distribution in smaller batches. It takes about 8
cups of raw, unprepared berries per batch; you'll need 6 cups of mushed raspberries.

Step 2 - Peeling the Mangoes

Green
mangoes are fairly firm, so a regular vegetable peeler works pretty
well. This is probably the most tedious step of the process, though.

Step 3 - Cut up the mangoes

Cut out any brown spots and mushy areas. Slice the mangoes in 1/4 thick
slices! It just takes practice to figure out where the pit is. the
pit is sort of flat, rather than egg-shaped, so you'll get more flesh of
some parts of the mango than others.

Then chop the mango slices up into 1/4 inch (.5 cm) or smaller cubes.

This mango splitter works great!

Step 4 - Wash the jars and lids

Now's a good time to get the jars ready, so you won't be rushed later. The dishwasher is fine for the jars; especially if it has a "sanitize" cycle, the water bath processing will sanitize them as well as the contents! If you don't have a dishwasher with a sanitize cycle, you can wash the containers in hot, soapy water and rinse, then sanitize the jars by boiling them 10 minutes, and keep the jars in hot water until they are used.

Put the lids into a pan of hot, but not quite boiling water (that's what the manufacturer's recommend) for 10 minutes, and use the magnetic "lid lifter wand" to pull them out. Leave the jars in the dishwasher on "heated dry" until you are ready to use them. Keeping them hot will prevent the jars from breaking when you fill them with the hot jam.

Step 5 -Wash the raspberries!

I'm sure you can figure out how to wash the fruit in plain cold water.

Just pick off any stems, cores and leaves.

Step 5a - Deseed the raspberries (optional)

I prefer seedless raspberry jams and jellies. The easiest way to do this is
to use a food mill; a Villaware (manual or motorized) or a Roma mill; not
a Foley*. I find the seeds separate more
easily if I heat the raspberries up until almost boiling, in a pan with about 1
cup of added apple juice.
Note: *The Foley Food Mill's sieve has openings that are too large for
raspberries; the seeds pass through.

As you can see, it is really effective at removing just the seeds:

ASIDE:
Here's how the Foley food mill (below) works on BLACKBERRIES - not raspberries. They cost about $30.

It works well for blackberries, not so well for raspberries, and no one tries to remove strawberry seeds (they're so small). I suppose you could train monkeys to pick them out, but they'd probably form a trade labor union. But I digress..

Step 5 b - Mush the berries - if you did not deseed them

If you decided not to remove the seeds, then you just mush the raspberries up a bit - not completely crushed, but mostly. Most people seem to like large chunks of fruit but crushing them releases the natural pectin so it can thicken. You'll need about 6 cups, mushed up.

Step 6 - Measure out the sugar

The precise measurements are found in each and every box of pectin sold. For most fruit; like berries, with the low sugar pectin, you'll need 4 cups of sugar. With regular pectin, about 7 cups of sugar.
I prefer to use 4 cups of sugar AND the NO-sugar pectin - that seems to give the
best results of set, color and flavor, better than regular or low-sugar pectins. Mix the dry pectin with about 1/4 cup of sugar and Keep this separate from the rest of the sugar. If you are not using sugar, you'll just have to stir more vigorously to prevent the pectin from clumping. This helps to keep the pectin from clumping up and allows it to mix better!

Step 7 - Mix the berries and mangoes with the pectin and lemon juice and cook to a full boil

Stir
the pectin into the berry/mango mix and put the mix in a big pot on the stove over medium to high heat (stir often enough to prevent burning). It should take about 5 to 10 minutes to get it to a full boil (the kind that cannot be stirred away).

Why use pectin? You may run into grandmotherly types who sniff "I never used pectin!" at you. Well, sure, and their generation took a horse and buggy to work, died of smallpox and ate canned meat and green beans that tastes like wet newspapers. Old fashioned ways are not always better nor healthier. Pectin, which occurs naturally in fruit, is what makes the jam "set" or thicken. The pectin you buy is just natural apple pectin, more concentrated. Using pectin dramatically reduces the cooking time, which helps to preserve the vitamins and flavor of the fruit, and uses much less added sugar. But, hey, if you want to stand there and stir for hours, cooking the flavor away, who am I to stop you! :) Having said that, there are some fruits that have naturally high amounts of pectin (see
this page for a list) and they simply don't need much or even any padded pectin.

Notes about pectin: I usually add about 25% - 30% more pectin (just open another pack and add a little) or else the jam is runnier than I like. With a little practice, you'll find out exactly how much pectin to get the thickness you like.

Another tip: use the lower sugar or no-sugar pectin. You can add sugar to either and it cuts the amount of sugar you need from 7 cups per batch to 4 cups or less! And it tastes even better! On the other hand; I have never had success with the No-sugar pectin without adding ANY sugar. It always turned out runny and bland. You might want to try using the low sugar or no-sugar recipe with a mixture of sugar and Splenda; sugar and white grape juice,
or just white grape juice - that will cut down the sugar, but still preserve the flavor.

Type of jam

Type of pectin to buy

Sweetener

regular

no-sugar or regular

7 cups of sugar

low sugar

no-sugar

4.5 cups of sugar

lower sugar

no-sugar

2 cups sugar and 2 cups of Splenda

no sugar

no-sugar

4 cups of Splenda

natural

no-sugar

3 cups fruit juice (grape, peach, apple or mixed)

Is your jam too runny? Pectin enables you to turn out perfectly set jam every time. Made from natural apples, there are also natural no-sugar pectins that allow you to reduce the sugar you add by half or even eliminate sugar!
Get them all here at the best prices on the internet!Amazon.com Widgets

SStep 8 - Get the lids warming in hot (but not boiling) water

Lids: put the lids into a pan of hot water for at least several minutes; to soften up the gummed surface and clean the lids./p>

Need lids, rings and replacement jars?

Get them all here, delivered direct to your home, at the best prices on the internet! Amazon.com Widgets

&

Step 9 - Add the remaining sugar and bring to a boil again for 1 minute

When the berry-pectin mix has reached a full boil, add the rest of the sugar (about 4 cups of sugar per 6 cup batch of berries)
or other sweetener, and then bring it back to a boil and boil hard for 1
minute... If you bring it back to a full boil fairly slowly (on medium heat rather than high) that will help reduce foaming.

Remove from the heat./p>

SStep 10 - Skim any excessive foam

Foam...
What is it? Just jam with a lot of air from the boiling. img border="0" src="figs/foam.jpg" width="142" height="139" align="right"> But it
tastes more like, well, foam, that jam, so most people remove it. It is
harmless,
though. Some people add 1 teaspoon of butter or margarine to the mix in
step 6 to reduce foaming, but food experts debate whether that may contribute to
earlier spoilage, so I usually omit it and skim.

Step 11 - Testing for "jell" (thickness)

I keep a metal tablespoon sitting in a glass of ice water, then take a half spoonful of the mix and let it cool to room temperature on the spoon. If it thickens up to the consistency I like, then I know the jam is ready. If not, I mix in a little more pectin (about 1/4 to 1/2 of another package) and bring it to a boil again for 1 minute./p>

Notes about "set" (thickening or jell): It takes 3 ingredients for jams and jellies to set: pectin, sugar and acidity. The amount of pectin that is naturally occurring in the fruit varies from one type of fruit to another and by ripeness (counter intuitively, unripe contains more pectin).
See this page for more about pectin in fruit. It takes the right balance, and sufficient amounts of each of pectin, sugar and acidity to result in a firm jam or jelly. Lastly, it takes a brief period (1 minute) of a hard boil, to provide enough heat to bring the three together. Generally speaking, if your jam doesn't firm up, you were short in pectin, sugar or acidity or didn't get a hard boil. That's ok - you can "remake' the jam; see
this page!

SStep 12 - Optional: Let stand for 5 minutes and stir completely.

Why? Otherwise, the fruit will often float to the top of the jar. This isn't a particular problem; you can always stir the jars later when you open them; but some people get fussy about everything being "just so", so I've included this step! Skipping this step won't affect the quality of the jam at all. I usually don't bother. /p>

You'll also notice that the less sugar you use, the more the fruit will float (chemists will tell you it is due to the decreased density of the solution!)

SStep 13 - Fill the jars and put the lid and rings on

Fill them to within 1/4-inch of the top, wipe any spilled jam off the top, seat the lid and tighten the ring around them. Then put the filled jars into the canner!
p>

This is where the jar tongs come in really handy!

SStep 14 - Process the jars in the boiling water bath

Keep the jars covered with at least 2 inches of water. Keep the water boiling. In general, boil them for 10 minutes, which is what ureJell (the makers of the pectin) recommend. I say "in general" because you have to
process (boil) them longer at higher altitudes than sea level, or if you use larger jars, or if you did not sanitize the jars and lids right before using them. The directions inside every box of pectin will tell you exactly. The directions on the pectin tend to be pretty conservative. Clemson University says you only need to process them for 5 minutes. I usually hedge my bets and start pulling them out after 5 minutes, and the last jars were probably in for 10. I rarely have a jar spoil, so it must work. But you don't want to process them too long, or the jam will turn dark and get runny. See the chart below for altitude adjustment to processing times, if you are not in the sea level to 1,000ft above sea level range.

Note: Some people don't even boil the jars; they just ladle it hot into hot jars, put the lids and rings on and invert them, but putting the jars in the boiling water bath REALLY helps to reduce spoilage! To me, it makes little sense to put all the working into making the jam and then not to process the jars to be sure they don't spoil!

Recommended process time for jams in a boiling water canner. (ref: Ball Blue Book)

Process Time at Altitudes of/strong>

Style of Pack

Jar Size

0 - 1,000 ft

1,001 - 6,000 ft

Above 6,000 ft

Hot

Half-pintsoor Pints

10 min

10/td>

15

SStep 15 - Remove and cool the jars - Done!

Lift the jars out of the water with your jar lifter tongs and let them cool without touching or bumping them in a draft-free place (usually takes overnight) You can then remove the rings if you like, but if you leave them on, at least loosen them quite a bit, so they don't rust in place due to trapped moisture. Once the jars are cool, you can check that they are sealed verifying that the lid has been sucked down. Just press in the center, gently, with your finger. If it pops up and down (often making a popping sound), it is not sealed. If you put the jar in the refrigerator right away, you can still use it. Some people replace the lid and reprocess the jar, then that's a bit iffy. If you heat the contents back up, re-jar them (with a new lid) and the full time in the canner, it's usually ok.
p>Once cooled, they're ready to store. I find they last up to 12 months. But after about 6 to 8 months, they get darker in color and start to get runny. They still are safe to eat, but the flavor and texture aren't as good. So eat them in the first 6 months after you prepare them! Another trick is to keep the uncooked berries or other fruit in the freezer and make and can the jam as needed, so it's always fresh.

Other Equipment:

From left to right:

Jar lifting tongsto pick up hot jars

Lid lifter- to remove lids from the potof boiling water (sterilizing )

Lid- disposable - you may onlyuse them once

Ring- holds the lids on the jar until afterthe jars cool - then you don't need them

** - This assumes you already have the pots, pans, ladles, and
reusable equipment. Note that you can reuse the jars! Many
products are sold in jars that will take the lids and rings for
canning. For example, Classico Spaghetti sauce is in quart sized
jars that work with Ball and Kerr lids and rings- some
authorities do not recommend these, saying they are more prone to break,
and while I have found that is true of mayonnaise jars, I have found the
Classico spaghetti jars to be pretty sturdy.

Can't find the equipment? We ship to all 50 states!

As my jars are cooling after i take them out of the canner, they sometimes
make a popping or hissing noise. Is this normal and safe?Yes, the lids are designed to flex and that's actually a key selling point.
You can tell if a jar hasn't sealed properly (after it has cooled completely) if
the lid flexes and makes a popping sound when you press the center of the lid
with your finger. The popping sounds while it is cooling is the lid being
sucked down by the vacuum that is forming inside the jar - which a normal part
of the sealing process. Hissing sounds are usually just escaping steam or
hot water evaporating on hot surfaces, also normal!

Why should cooked jelly be made in small batches?
If a larger quantity of juice is used, it will be necessary to boil it longer thus causing loss of flavor, darkening of jelly, and toughening of jelly. It really doesn't work. Trust me; I've tried many times!

Can I use frozen berries instead of fresh?Yep! Raspberries can be particularly hard to find fresh and are expensive! Frozen berries work just fine, and measure the same. Just be sure to get the loose, frozen whole fruit; not those that have been mushed up or frozen in a sugar syrup!

Could you tell me why my JAM is thicker then the store bought?
The natural pectin content of fresh fruit varies, so it is possible the the
variety of fruit that you used has more natural pectin, making it thicker. But
there's an easy answer - just add less pectin next time. You'll have to
experiment to find how much pectin makes the consistency you like. Most people
seem to like their jam thick, so you may to need to only use 3/4 of a pack of
pectin per batch.

Must I use a water bath method to make jam? Can I use my pressure
canner or is it not really necessary?
Yes, you should use a water bath
method; it cuts the spoilage rate down to almost zero. There are people who
don't, by just inverting the jars, but unless your are absolutely
scrupulously clean, you will get spoilage, and there is still a risk of food
poisoning, albeit it smaller than with other canned products. Jams only need
5 minutes in the water bath anyway, thanks to the very high sugar content
combined with the acidity.
Either water bath or pressure method works. For making jam, the water bath
is easier and much faster. You needn't buy a water bath canner, if you
already have a pressure canner, since you can use your pressure canner as a
water bath canner, by simply not sealing it (allowing the vents to remain
open, not putting the weight on it).

What is the best way to de-seed berries for jam? I heard a few different
ways. A food mill, a ricer, and cheese cloth.For large seeds (blackberries, apples, and larger) I find a Foley Food Mill
works best - it's certainly faster and easier than the other methods. Raspberry
and smaller seeds are a real pain. They get stuck in (and clog) or pass through
a food mill. The Villaware mill has a smaller screen that works great for them!
See this page for more information
about both strainers. Cheesecloth and jelly strainers are messy, take forever and you
lose most of the pulp. For these, I find a metal sieve or colander (with small
enough holes) and a spatula to help mush them and push the pulp through, is
best. Also, heating the mushed up berries almost to boiling really helps to
separate the seeds and pulp.

Do you have a recipe for strawberry-rhubarb jam using honey for
sweetener and using pectin as a thickener? I haven't tried it, but it
ought to be possible, as the primary sugars in honey are fructose and
glucose. With a no-sugar pectin, it should work well, using the usual
honey-to-sugar substitution ratios that you use elsewhere. I'd estimate,
that with a no-sugar pectin, you could use 2 cups of honey per batch (of 6
cups of mashed fruit) and get a pretty good result. If anyone makes jam with
honey and has any tips, write me,
and I'll share them here.

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